Apparatus for carrying submarine torpedoes.



F. SCIFORD.

APPARATUS FOR CARRYING SUBMARINE TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT.3. 91?- Patented Feb. 26, 1918.

' horizontal position where the holder will. be i BENJAMIN F. SCIFORD,C15 EAGLE BUTTE, SUU'I'I-I DAKOTA.

.arrnnarus ron CARRYING SUBIVIARINE ronrnnons.

reenter.

specification of Letters Patent. Patented 28, 191%;

Application filed October a, 1917. Serial no. 194,555.

To all whom it may concern: a

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN, F; Borrow, a citizen of the United States,of America, and resident of Eagle Butte, in the county of Ziebach andState of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Tmprovementsin Apparatus for Carrying Submzu rine Torpedoes, of which the followingis a specification. a

This invention relates to apparatus for carrying submarine torpedoes andparticularly to means for suspending the same and carrying them at thesides of a ship,m'eans being also provided whereby the carrying. meansmay be manipulated in a novel mannerfor moving the torpedo holder to aposition where another torpedo may be placed on the holder and whereby arepetition of the operation may be had A further objectof this inventionis to provide novel means for. rigidly retaining the torpedo holder,provision being made for releasing the same upon impact ofthe torpedowith an object and for thereafter resiliently retaining the torpedoholder in operative relation to the object which caused the disruptionof the first mentioned retai'ning means. 7 D

A still further object of tlns lnvention 1s to provide novel meanswhereby a torpedo holder may be moved vertlcallv and osc1llated so thatit will assume practlcally a accessible for replacing new torpedoes.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe details of construction and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein likecharacters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in whichi Figure 1 illustrates a View in elevation of a hull of a ship showingthe torpedo holder embodying the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 illustrates a view in elevation of the operating mechanism;

Fig. 3 illustrates a sectional view on the l line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 illustrates a detail view showing the manner of connecting thehousing to the gearing.

Fig. 5 illustrates a detail view partly in section, showing theconnection between the torpedo holder and rack bar.

In these draw ngs 5 denotes a suitable base which may be attached to ahull of a ship in any preferred way, the said base having a shafttjournaled in it and the. said shaft carrylng a gear wheel 7 which mesheswith a gear wheel 8 mounted on the shaft 9 carried by the base. The gearwheel 8 has an arm 10 with an aperture 11 therein on which ashaft 12 isjournaled, the said shaft be ing provided with a pinion 13 for a purposeto be presently explained. The base has a curved slot 14-. through whichthe shaft 12 extendsand in which it may move. The shaft 12 has a crankhandle 15 applied to it so that it maybe turned to rotate the pinion orthe said crank handle may also be applied to the shaft 6 for the purposeof. rotating it as will presently appear. i

The gear wheel Scarries a housingor guide 16 which has a slot oraperture 17 in one edge, lnto which the teeth of the pinion 7 is rotatedthrough the manipulation or op eration of the shaft 6, the gear wheel 8will turn and motion will be communicated to the housing and partsassociated with it.

A rack bar 18 is slidable in the housing 16 and its lower end isprovided with a socket 19 in which the torpedo holder 20 is attached bypins or other fastenings 21. The torpedo holder may be of anyconstruction which will hold the torpedo 22 but in practice a smallencircling band fitting around the torpedo and clamped thereon has beenfound suflicient.

The pinion 13 engages the teeth of the rack bar 18 and therefore therack bar may be elevated or lowered by turning the pinion 13. t

A link 23 is pivotally mounted on the base by the pin 24 and theopposite end of the link is forked so that it embraces the edge of therack bar near its upper edge and the peg 25 preferably of wood extendsthrough the bifurcated end of the link and through the rack bar so thatthe rack bar is'held rigid in a vertical position until such time as anobstruction is encountered by the torpedo and when that occurs the pegis sheared and the rack bar and torpedoearrieryields'and swings from avertical to a diagonal positionbut the torped iS held i 1....0nta ththwbiec e countered by a spring 26Vwhich is anchored to the base as at27 and has'its opposite end connected to the'raok bar 18 near itsuppero'fdinary'oonditions will ,be tired.

ro n an; inspection "of the drawing "and fffio'ha; the foregoingdescription, it will be obviousthat the rack ha'rrmay be raised or,lowered'by operating the pinion and .it is j'preferabl'eto disconnectthe spring 26 from the rackjbarwhen it is to "beelevated. When the'barhas been elevated, the gear 20 .7 maybefrotated for the'purposeofoscilanging housing and the rack bar therein so that "the rackbar and torpedo holder my 1 be Ino'vedffroin a Vertical position asshown in Fig'rfl to thehorizontal position shown in dotted lines in Fig;lfand that a reversal of the operation will replac the rack bar andtorpedo, holder in the vertical position in which they are illustrated,in Fig. 1.

' When :a torpedo has exploded the holder is elevated for the pur os ofreplacing a: torpedo, the spring 26'i's disconnected V frointhe rack but'onflrestorignig the parts v to the operative posit ons, a new peg ispneea'in the link and rack bar and. the

he sheared when force is applied to the rack har, lmeans for yieldinglyholding the rack bar when released, and means for rotating the gearwheel.

2. In a torpedo holder, a base, a gear wheel thereon, a housing Carriedby the gear wheel, a bar slidab'le in the housing, meansforreciprocating the bar in the housing, means for holdin the baragainst movement andadapted to release the bar upon impact of thetorpedo, and means for yieldingly holding the rack bar after an impact.

In a torpedo holder, a base, a gear wheel thereon, means for rotatingthe gear whe'el,a housing carried by the gear wheel, a rack bar slidablein the housing, means 'for reciprocating the bar in the housing, meanstor holding the bar against movement and adapted to release the bar uponimpact of the torpedo, and means for yie'ldingly hold- ,ing the rackbarafter an impact.

BENJAMIN F. SCIFORD.

o t this liteiit inayb'e 'olitiiiiie'd for fiy'e cents each'fhyaddressing the "co'mmissibner 'otiatent'zt,

' i i washingtomn. c."

